Youth music festival created to showcase Sheffield’s finest emerging talent

Thursday 28 June 2018

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One of Sheffield’s hottest independent music venues will be taken over by a new festival for and by young people this July.

Sheffield’s youth festival, Hubfest will showcase two stages of the city’s finest, emerging talent, putting young-people at the heart of the Sheffield music scene.

The young-people’s festival takeover at Yellow Arch studios on Sunday 8 July will be opened by the new Lord Mayor, Magid Magid and an incredible samba-carnival flash-mob featuring 90 musicians, with dancers from Sheffield Carnival.

Hubfest will feature a full day of entertainment with 150 performers playing an incredibly diverse range of music from rock to rap, from singer-songwriters to spoken word, from traditional Roma music to Trap! There will be lots of exciting things to join in with including live art, creating a communal poem and dance sessions with Ignite Imaginations, open piano sessions, acoustic pop-ups and lots more!

The concept started in January when scores of young people from across Sheffield applied to be in the first ever Hubfest. Professional musicians viewed their music video applications, narrowing the selection to 25 acts that will be performing at the event.

Each has been on a bespoke mentoring programme with a professional musician to inspire, encourage, excite and prepare them for the stage.

With support from the Arts Council, tickets have been reduced to £5 to ensure that this signature event is accessible to everyone. Tickets are available to buy via Eventbrite.

Caroline Hallam, co-lead for the event at Sheffield Music Hub said:

“We want every young person in Sheffield to see themselves reflected in Hubfest. It is a continuation of Sheffield Music Hub’s aims – to smash down barriers and bring all people together through music. We are so proud of the amazing group of young people we have brought together through Hubfest.”

A group called Subsequently Blue, made up of young, female musicians from High Stores has been working with professional musician Gina Walters. Gina has been a gigging pop/jazz singer since 2007. Her time fronting the indie-pop band Screaming Maldini saw her touring the UK, France and even Japan where the band’s album reached No.2 in the album charts. Gina has been song-writing for over a decade and is still writing and gigging with her most recent project, Before Breakfast. She has also supported Justin Bieber at Sheffield Arena with NYC outfit ‘The Knocks” and has recently recorded original music for BBC 2.

In a culture that is male dominated, the work Gina has been doing with Subsequently Blue has inspired the girls to really see that the music industry is a place where they can belong. They have begun to discover who they are through their music, writing new songs, developing existing songs, composing new arrangements, working on harmonies and expression.

Case Study – Urban Artist Collective

The Hubfest vision is to create musical opportunities that truly reflect and serve the young people of Sheffield. Alongside more experienced artists, such as The Silverfish and BBC introducing artist Medley, Sheffield Music Hub is also hosting an ‘Introduces’ set. This will give artists right at the beginning of their musical journey a chance to perform in an incredible venue to a festival audience. Another aspect of this is the formation of a brand new Urban Collective

We have had the pleasure of working with emerging facilitator and creator of Slambarz; Dominic Heslop. Dominic has been working with a team of urban artists brought together through Hubfest to curate an incredible urban music showcase. This is giving a real voice to the young people of Sheffield through spoken word, rap, hip-hop and urban beats. Hubfest is providing a platform for artists from different backgrounds, with different experiences but with the same passion for music to collaborate and perform. The result is going to be something really special. This again is smashing barriers down through music and providing the very best musical opportunities for your young people.